Huntington Beach Ca

Most of the youngsters don't go on to become lifeguards. Many of them sign up and, to their surprise, spend sometimes challenging half-days of instruction on the sand and in the sea. They sometimes go home both happy and somewhat worn out. But above all else, the Junior Lifeguards program in Huntington Beach -- like in other beach towns up and down the coast -- is supposed to be fun.

With the sun peeking out through scattered clouds Sunday morning, hundreds of people gathered inches from Huntington Beach's waters to celebrate the ocean through song and prayer. The Blessing of the Waves is an annual celebration that includes officials from various religions. This year organizers decided to include a more somber note: a moment of silence for victims of recent natural disasters in Southeast Asia. "The ocean is the center of our community here," said Ryan Lilyengren, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

A 22-year-old woman who was shot by Huntington Beach police remained hospitalized in critical condition Monday, officials said. She has been identified as Kelly Evans of Bellflower. Police were called to a disturbance at a townhouse in the 5100 block of Pearce Street about 10 a.m. Sunday. Officers found Evans in the laundry room, authorities said.

A shop on the Santa Cruz wharf will stop selling T-shirts marked "Surf City, Santa Cruz California, U.S.A.," ending more than a year of litigation with the Huntington Beach tourist bureau, a lawyer for the agency said Sunday. The suit became a proxy debate over which California beach town could call itself the nation's surf capital. The Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau registered the "Surf City U.S.A."

Two dozen homes and a medical building were evacuated for about four hours Friday after a man dropped off an unexploded mortar shell at an adjacent Huntington Beach fire station, authorities said. About 10:30 a.m., the man dropped off the World War II-era 81-millimeter mortar round -- still in its original box -- at the fire station at the intersection of Heil Avenue and Springdale Street.

When investors laid claim to a wide stretch of Orange County beach property more than 100 years ago, they named it Pacific City in an idealistic pitch for what they thought could be one of the West Coast's premier resorts. Instead, Huntington Beach became an oil boomtown and, later, a surf mecca. The city has come full circle, and now is banking on tourism as its next big industry.

Archaeologists have removed 174 sets of human remains from a controversial housing development under construction in Huntington Beach, bolstering claims that it was a significant prehistoric Native American settlement. Dave Singleton, program analyst for the California Native American Heritage Commission, said 87 sets of remains were removed before Hearthside Homes broke ground on its Brightwater development near the Bolsa Chica wetlands in June 2006 and 87 more since then.

The state medical board Thursday revoked the license of a Huntington Beach physician, seven weeks after an administrative law judge found he had sexually exploited two female patients. Dr. John Edwin Bohm, who specialized in anesthesiology and pain medicine, pleaded no contest in December 2005 in Los Angeles County Superior Court to sexual misconduct with one of the patients.

Two environmental advocacy groups filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state Coastal Commission, complaining that stone walls built by a developer at the entrance to a public trail into Bolsa Chica wetlands discouraged people from entering. The 10-foot-high wall and trellis structures built by developer Hearthside Homes are "placed up there to suggest private territory instead of the public identity they should have," said Steve Hoye, executive director of nonprofit Access for All, one of the organizations that filed the suit.

A man chased by Huntington Beach police Monday stepped out of his vehicle and shot himself in front of officers, a department spokesman said. The chase began after a 911 call about 9:30 a.m. from Nicola Hernandez, who said her ex-boyfriend was in her apartment firing a handgun, Lt. Dave Bunetta said. As police raced to the 6400 block of Warner Avenue, they spotted Jeffrey J. Tinnion's truck at Springdale Street and Heil Avenue, Bunetta said. Officers pursued the 51-year-old Huntington Beach resident and used a maneuver that caused his vehicle to spin out of control at Springdale and McFadden Avenue.